140 



Scientific Intelligence, [no. &, new series^. 



dust storms which frequently occur in India, the disc of the sun is 

 seen of a blue colour ; if small bodies are made to project their 

 shadows on a white surface under such circumstances, the shadow 

 is of an orange colour — that is, complementary to blue. The trans- 

 parency of the waters of the Ganges, the Burrampooter, and the 

 Indus was tested by letting down a stone into them, which generally 

 became invisible at a depth of from 12 to 15 centimetres (5 to & 

 inches), showing that they are overcharged with earthy particles, 

 for in the sea near Corfu a stone is visible to the depth of 50 feet, and 

 in these a3 under the tropics it remains visible at a depth of 30 feet, 

 —Times, 2Zrd October, 1857. 



Poisoning with the Seeds of Thevetia neriifolia. 



The following extract from a communication by Dr. Douglas 

 Maclagan to the Botanical Society of Edinburgh, is worthy of at- 

 tention, detailing the history of two cases of poisoning by a shrub* 

 common in our gardens, known as the exile or yellow Oleander. Dr. 

 J. Balfour, Bengal Army, was called by the Native doctor to see 

 his own children, reported to be suffering from obstinate vomitings 

 and narrates as follows ; 



" Upon investigation, it turned out that, they had found the seeds of a 

 shrub called by the natives Cheen-ke-kuner or the Chinese Oleander, said 

 to be the Jatropha multifida, or one of the physic nuts ;. they had broken 

 the nuts, and finding the kernels bitter, had played at 1 Doctors,' and had 

 each eaten about one whole nut. (A younger boy, said to have eaten 

 half a nut, did not suffer at all.) This was about noon, at three they eat 

 their dinner, in their ordinary style, and were free of complaint ; they ap- 

 peared quite well when I left them, about a quarter past six, to go out to 

 dinner, but soon after began to feel unwell, for they refused their tea. The 

 principal peculiarity in the action of the poison was the style of vomiting j 

 no retching nor straining, but a single gulp, without much apparent dis- 

 tress, and then an immediate return to the recumbent posture, and a state 

 of somnolence. The pulse in No. 1 was very weak as well as slow, and I 

 was anxious about him for some time. The taste of the kernels is extremely 

 bitter—a persistent aloe flavour— and in this also I think it differs from the 



